ASTROLOGY

YOUR PLACE IN THE STARS

VENUS IN PISCES

IN this sign Venus is in her exaltation. The watery nature of the sign does not make her so voluptuous as we saw to be the case with {310} Cancer and Scorpio. Pisces is too psychic for that to happen. Softness and tenderness are brought out strongly, but are expressed as an unequalled capacity for devotion and self-sacrifice. A very striking example of this is given in the relations of Sir Richard Burton with his wife. In all other respects his nature was fiery, arrogant and domineering; but he treated her with a chivalry which did not even succeed in getting itself understood or appreciated. The same spirit, with a slightly wider field of expression, is found in “Chinese” Gordon.

As a general rule, indeed, the affections are likely to be widely distributed. When art is concerned, this position seems to give the faculty of handling large groups of people with ease. This is evident in the cases of Michael Angelo, Zola, Dickens, Victor Hugo and, with slightly less lustre, Rosa Bonheur. The affections, generally speaking, are simple and natural. There is a calm kindliness of feeling towards humanity in general, and there is very little tendency to snobbery, none at all to arrogance.

Possibly as a consequence of this, the native does not easily make enemies. On the other hand, he is likely in some measure to spoil his friends. This position does not excite in others that depth of emotion which leads to grand passions and great sacrifices. Relations with others seem to be taken too easily , and their devotion is not likely to develop, as it does often enough in the case of people far less calculated at the first sight to inspire the noblest sentiments. People with this position are usually devoted to their families. They not only love others, but care for and cherish them. Self-sacrifice is natural to the native, whenever his tender feelings are in question.

There is a great deal of romance mingled with these feelings. The native dissolves himself into the beloved, making a true union, and the greatest sorrow that can be experienced by a person with this position is when the beloved fails to appreciate his devotion to the full. Venus in this sign is not particularly fastidious; she is too ready for the pleasure the yielding gives to others. In some respects this is the highest possible development of Venus. The reader will remember Browning’s poem in which one of the competing lovers says that she does not care what may be the qualities of the beloved, let him be an absolute scoundrel, with no good qualities at all; such a man gives the greatest opportunity for the exhibition of the noblest {311} qualities of love, and the abbe called in to decide the case ends his judgment:

“The love which to one, and one only has reference, seems terribly like what perhaps gains God’s preference.”

Venus in Pisces is not in the lest intellectual; she is intuitive, and this intuition is the outcome of her extraordinary nobility. Her willingness to pay the price, however great, gives her the privilege of a knowledge almost divine in its immediateness.

One of the most beautiful examples of this position is Edgar Allan Poe. In him, as critics have often pointed out, the instinct of love is almost abnormally pure. There is not a word in his writings which can be called coarse, gross or even free, yet his conception of passion is more romantic, more poetic than that of almost any other writer. In his very rhythm one feels the nature of his love. “Annabel Lee” and “Lenore” illustrate magnificently the vision which the poet has of women.

Of course, it is not always to be expected that we shall find this influence in such purity. George Washington took a much more practical view of sex.

Sometimes, we discover a romanticism and idealism not necessarily connected with sex. We may put down the passion for exploration which characterized H. M. Stanley and the Duke of the Abruzzi to this position, at least in part. It is the romantic view of things which is indicated. As we have seen in other signs, Venus represents the exterior of things. These explorers translated into the actions of manhood, boyhood’s dream of the romance of geography. Flammarion is in very much the same position with regard to astrology, and the attitude of C. W. Leadbetter towards the astral plane may also be ascribed to this position.

It is a very good position for actors, who, when they possess it, incline to prefer to undertake the representation of romantic and heroic parts. Henry Irving and William Terris illustrate this point. There is also the example of Mary Garden; the comprehensive character of her art and its extraordinary romance and glow recall the very similar qualities otherwise expressed in Michael Angelo.

The following are the names of well known persons who have Venus in Pisces: {312}

George Washington

Geraldine Farrar

Howard Chandler Christy

Will Levington Comfort

Thomas A. Edison

Dr. William S. Bainbridge

“Buffalo Bill” (Wm. S. Cody)

Rev. Leighton S. Parks

Richard Watson Gilder

Walter J. Damrosch

Charles E. Hughes

Charles M. Schwab

William Faversham

Robert Mantell

Algernon Blackwood

Charles A. Lindbergh

Antonio Scotti

Rosa Bonheur

Victor Hugo

Cammille Flammarion

Sir Henry Irving

William Terris

Charles Dickens

Emile Zola

For the benefit of those who are not in possession of Raphael&rsqup;s Ephemeris, or who are not able to interpret the symbols contained therein, the years when Venus is in the sign Pisces are as follows:

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